Rumor Has It
by sevenseashigh
Summary: Henry and Jasper were the perfect couple. They were young, they were in love, and nothing could separate the two. They were even on track to win Cutest Couple for their senior class superlatives. That was until a rumor spread around school that Jasper was cheating on Henry...with Kid Danger!


Jasper jammed his books into his locker as he started getting out his stuff for his next class. As he was zipping up his backpack, he heard a couple of girls start whispering behind him and he turned around to see that they were pointing at him as they walked by. They immediately looked away when he caught them, but their hushed tones got a little louder as they disappeared around the corner and down the hall. Jasper's eyebrows snapped together as his jaw clenched in confusion. He watched the spot for a second where the girls had been just moments ago.

_Were they whispering about him? And why?_

Jasper felt two hands cover his eyes and a familiar voice behind him asked: "Guess who?" Any confusion or agitation Jasper felt from the two girls instantly melted away as a fond smile spread across his lips.  
"Hey, Henry," he said as he turned around to see his boyfriend's warm brown eyes sparkling at him.

"Hey," Henry said as he placed a small kiss on Jasper's lips before he went to lean up against the locker beside Jasper's. Jasper went to finish rearranging the things in his locker when he noticed out of the corner of his eye that a couple of his classmates were looking at him and whispering as the two girls had. He turned towards them, and they promptly looked away. Jasper frowned as he tried not to jump to conclusions. _Were they actually looking at him? Or was it just an illusion? _Jasper tried to shake it off as he turned his attention back to his locker. A second later, he saw _another_ group of people looking at him and pointing, and at this point, he was fed up. He slammed his locker shut, causing Henry to jump a little, and he turned towards Henry with an irritable look on his face. Henry's expression turned to one of concern and he stood up a little straighter as he looked at Jasper.

"What's wrong, love?" he asked. Jasper felt his annoyance diffuse a little; he and Henry had been together for over a year but Jasper still felt soft every time Henry called him by an endearing pet name. Jasper threw his backpack over his shoulder as he let out a loud sigh.  
"Is there something wrong with me? Like, is there something on my face? Something wrong with my hair?" he demanded. Henry was taken aback a little by his sudden interrogation but he immediately recovered as he gave Jasper a once over.

"No, you look fine. Why?" Jasper bit his lower lip for a moment.

"I don't know. That's just the third time today where it seemed like people were pointing at me and whispering," he answered. He remained silent for a moment before he finally decided to just let it go. "So, I just look fine today?" Jasper questioned, pretending to be hurt. Henry smirked.

"Okay, you look good today," he replied. Jasper pouted as he glanced down at the ground.

"Just good?" Henry looked amused as he used the front of Jasper's shirt to pull him a little closer to him.

"You look absolutely, positively fantastic today. Best looking guy in the school," Henry responded as he leaned in to kiss Jasper, but they were interrupted by Ms. Shapen.

"No PDA in the halls!" she uttered as she walked by.

"Okay, no PDA in the halls but what about in class?" Henry called after her jokingly. Ms. Shapen came back around the corner and was glowering at Henry. Henry gave her a playful grin, trying to indicate that he had just been joking, but she continued to shoot daggers at him. After a moment, Henry finally cracked.

"Sorry, Ms. Shapen," he said in defeat. She pressed her lips into a thin line and gave him a stern look before turning on her heel and rounding the corner once again. Henry and Jasper exchanged entertained glances before they both broke into a fit of laughter.

"Guys!" Henry looked over Jasper's shoulder and Jasper whirled around to see Charlotte standing there beaming up at the both of them.

"Hey, Char," Henry said.

"Hey, Charlotte. What's up?" Jasper said.

"So, I just got back from a yearbook meeting, and I'm not supposed to tell you this, but you guys are definitely a lock for the Cutest Couple Senior Superlative." Henry and Jasper shared an amused look. The warning bell rang then, signaling that they needed to get to class or risk being late. Henry grabbed Jasper's hand as the trio started down the hall. As they were walking, Henry started to take notice of what Jasper was referring too. A lot of their fellow classmates were watching them and talking in hushed tones.

"Do you see what I mean?!" Jasper said as he turned to look at Henry. Henry frowned.

"Yeah...I wonder what that's about," he responded.

"I don't know, but it's really bugging me," Jasper said. Henry could see how upset Jasper was, so he squeezed his hand a little in comfort.

"Don't worry about it, babe. I'm sure whatever it is, it'll be forgotten by tomorrow." A smile spread across Jasper's face as he blushed a little.

"I like it when you call me 'babe'," he gushed. Henry's eyes gleamed.

"I know. That's why I do it," he responded.

By the time lunchtime rolled around, at least half the school had been whispering about Jasper, and Jasper was sick of it. As he was walking to the cafeteria, a boy and girl were standing off to the side of the hallway, eyeing him as they whispered, and Jasper finally decided to confront them.

"What is it?!" he exclaimed angrily as he turned to face them. The girl's eyes went wide, and Jasper could tell that she was surprised and a little fearful from his outburst.

"I uhh...sorry," she stuttered out, "It's just...we know it's none of our business but….are you really cheating on Henry?" Jasper took a step back as his eyebrows snapped together and he frowned.

"_What?_" he responded, clearly shocked by her question. "Of course not! What would give you that idea?!" he demanded.

"Well," she started, but the guy nudged her and shook his head, signaling for her to keep quiet. "Never mind," she said as she and the guy quickly made their way to the cafeteria. Jasper exhaled sharply as he stood there for a moment, flabbergasted.

_Where is this rumor even coming from?!_ he thought.

He made his way into the cafeteria and he saw Henry enter from the other side, with Charlotte following a few steps behind him. They immediately locked eyes and made their way to each other, meeting up in the middle. Henry looked confused as he kept his eyes on Jasper.

"Henry, there's this rumor going around that I-"

"That you're cheating on me?" Henry interjected, raising his eyebrows. Charlotte looked back and forth between the two of them. Their fellow classmates had taken notice to their confrontation and were now forming a crowd around them. "Are you?" Henry asked, sounding more perplexed than angry. Jasper's eyes went wide as he shook his head.

"Henry, no, of course not! I've never even _thought_ about cheating on you and I never would!" Henry nodded in response.

"Okay," he replied simply as he shrugged. He had known Jasper almost his entire life and he trusted him. He figured that the rumors were false, but he still thought he should at least ask. Jasper let out a sigh of relief as he reached out his hand for Henry to take. Before Henry could, a kid from the back of the crowd yelled out: "Wait! We have photographic proof that Jasper is cheating!" Jasper and Henry both furrowed their eyebrows and frowned.

"What?!" Jasper exclaimed. "That's not possible! I've literally never cheated on Henry!" he asserted. The kid made his way to the front of the crowd and pulled out his phone as he held it up for Henry and Jasper to look at. There, on the tiny screen, was a photo of Jasper and Kid Danger, with Jasper leaning against Kid Danger with his head on his shoulder, in a tiny back alley that was taken just moments after Kid Danger had stopped a robbery. Charlotte and Henry both quickly clasped a hand to their mouths, trying their best not to laugh while Jasper's mouth hung open slightly.

"Oh. That," Jasper started as his brain scrambled for a good excuse. "See, that's not what it looks like. Kid Danger….Kid Danger had just saved me from getting mugged...and I kinda felt like I was gonna pass out so I was just leaning on him for support. That's all." Jasper looked up at Henry and he could tell from the look on Henry's face that he found this much more entertaining than Jasper did.

"Oh, yeah?!" the kid demanded, "Than explain this!" He held up his phone again to show a picture of Jasper kissing Kid Danger taken in the same back alley. Henry shot Jasper a worried look, while Jasper grimaced. Everyone watched Jasper expectantly.

"That...that I can't really explain," Jasper answered.

"So, you admit it? You're cheating on Henry with Kid Danger?" a girl standing closest to Jasper asked. Jasper shook his head a little.

"No, I mean-" he started, but his classmates started cutting him off.

"So, what is it Jasper? How do you explain this?" one of them asked.

"Well, I-" he tried to answer, but was interrupted again.

"So, what are you saying? That's clearly a picture of you kissing Kid Danger, but you deny that you're cheating on Henry with him so...are you implying that _Henry_ is Kid Danger?" one kid interjected. Henry's eyes went wide as his head snapped in the direction of Jasper and he shook his head vigorously. Jasper exhaled sharply.

"No, no!" He tried to think quickly for a good excuse, but it was no use. He had to say something soon, before the kids started thinking about Henry being Kid Danger. "Um...you guys caught me," he said as he threw his hands up in the air, "I'm cheating on Henry with Kid Danger." A chorus of gasps rang out as everyone quickly turned their attention to Henry. Henry was just standing there with a blank expression until he realized everyone was looking at him.

"Huh? Oh, wait! Oh, uhhh…." he began. "Wow. I am...shocked and betrayed," he said entirely unconvincingly. Jasper squeezed his eyes shut over how utterly _bad_ Henry's acting was, but by some miracle, everyone was buying it.

"So, are you breaking up now?" a girl in the back of the crowd asked.

"Well, let's not be hasty…" Jasper replied.

"Yep," Henry said over him. Jasper quickly turned towards Henry, a panicked and upset look on his face. Henry's expression was entirely serious as he looked Jasper dead in the eye. Jasper's breath caught in his throat. The darkness in Henry's eyes was starting to make Jasper believe that he might actually be serious.

"We're done," he said, his expression unchanged. Jasper's mouth fell open slightly as he started to breathe a little harder now.

"Henry," he said quietly as he kept his eyes locked on him. Henry took a few steps back and the crowd started to swarm around Jasper. When the crowd had taken their focus off of Henry, Henry gave Jasper a sly smile and a wink to indicate that he was just faking it. Jasper took a silent sigh of relief as his classmates started hounding him with questions.

"How long have you been seeing Kid Danger?!"

"What's he really like in person?!"

"Do you know his secret identity?!"

Jasper did his best to field the question, while Charlotte and Henry looked on, teasing smiles plastered on both of their faces.

_Glad they're having fun, _Jasper thought to himself sarcastically.

The rest of the day wasn't much better for Jasper. He had been the center of attention in all of his classes, and try as they might, the teachers just weren't able to get any work done. It took Jasper three extra minutes to get to the rest of his classes because he kept getting hounded by crowds of people asking about Kid Danger. Even when he left school there was a news van waiting outside for him, and Evelyn Hall immediately started pestering him with questions.

"Jasper, can you tell us about your relationship with Kid Danger?" she asked as she shoved the microphone in his face. Jasper pushed it away, annoyance etched all over his face as he started to walk away.

"No comment," he replied. Evelyn began to follow him.

"How long have you known Kid Danger?"

"No comment."

"Does Kid Danger know about your now ex-boyfriend?" Jasper stopped dead in his tracks as he gave the camera a death glare.  
"No. Comment," he growled as he started towards his car. Evelyn left him alone at this point, and he climbed into his car, threw his backpack down on the seat beside him, and slammed the door. He put his face down on the steering wheel and shut his eyes for a second. He jumped when he heard a knock on the window, and he was afraid it might be more people wanting to bug him about Kid Danger, but to his relief, it was just Henry. Jasper unlocked the door for him as Henry climbed in with the biggest grin on his face.

"Isn't this just the funniest thing?!" he said, "People think you're cheating on me with Kid Danger, but _I'm_ Kid Danger!" Henry started chuckling but Jasper just shot him a death glare.

"This isn't funny at all, Henry!" Jasper cried, "everyone thinks I'm a cheater!" Henry's smile faded a little.

"I guess I hadn't really considered that aspect of it," he said softly. "Well, I wouldn't worry about it too much, I mean, this is high school. There'll be another scandal by next week and everyone will have forgotten about this." Jasper looked at him, unconvinced. Just then, the backdoor opened and Charlotte climbed inside, a huge smirk on her face.

"Is this not the funniest thing?!" she exclaimed.

"It's not FUNNY!" Jasper boomed. Henry and Charlotte went silent for a moment, while Jasper turned on the car and put in reverse. After he was sure Jasper wasn't paying attention, Henry turned around and nodded to Charlotte as they both giggled as silently as possible.

Jasper was actually excited about going to work today. He was happy that he was finally going to get away from the pestering questions and he was going to get to forget about this whole mess for a while. Or, at least he thought.

When the elevator came to screeching halt at the bottom and opened up into the Man Cave, the trio found Ray sitting in front of the monitors with a remote in his hand, a steely look on his face. On the main screen, the newscast about Jasper and Kid Danger's relationship was paused.

"Does someone wanna tell me what the hell this is about?" he said as he pointed the remote behind him at the monitor. Charlotte and Henry shared amused glances before they broke into a fit of laughter.

"It's kinda funny isn't it?" Henry said. Ray stood up, his expression unchanged.

"No, it's not. At all," he responded sternly.

"Thank you!" Jasper declared.

"Do you know how dangerous this is?" Ray continued as he stood up. The smiles on Henry's and Charlotte's faces immediately faded. "What do you think is gonna happen to Jasper if one of our enemies find out about this?! You just handed them the_ perfect_ piece of bait for Kid Danger." Henry glanced down at his feet for a moment.

"I hadn't considered that," Henry said softly. Ray took a few steps towards them as he sighed.

"You need to take care of this. You two need to break up," he said as he waved the remote between Henry and Jasper. Jasper and Henry exchanged alarmed looks as they both began to protest.

"Nooooooo!" Jasper whined.

"I don't wanna break up!" Henry cried. Ray shut his eyes as he exhaled sharply.

"Not you two," he said through gritted teeth, "You and Kid Danger!"

"Ohhhh," Henry and Jasper both replied simultaneously.

"That makes more sense," Jasper responded. Ray began to pace back and forth for a moment.

"We have to make sure it's public. We have to make sure the word gets out," he said as he put his hand up to his chin while he thought it over.

"I've got it!" Henry exclaimed. Ray stopped pacing as everyone turned towards Henry. "We've got the ribbon cutting ceremony for the new playground tomorrow. It's supposed to be televised. We'll just get in front of one of the news cams, stage a fake breakup and boom. Easy peasy."

"You better hope so," Ray replied.

The next day, Jasper and Kid Danger arrived at the ribbon cutting ceremony and a chorus of gasps and whispers rang out.

"God, I can't wait until this is over," Jasper mumbled. The pair decided to wait until right before the ceremony started to do their "breakup" so that most people would be have arrived and tuned in by then. As the last of the guests arrived, Henry and Jasper exchanged looks as they nodded and found the nearest news cam.

"Ready?" Henry said softly.

"Ready," Jasper replied. They got in front of the news cam and put on the angriest faces they could muster.

"Oh, yeah, well! You're too bossy!" Jasper shouted. Henry furrowed his eyebrows and frowned.

"Well, at least I'm not a huge dork!" Kid Danger shot back. One of the news reporters, Evelyn Hall ran up to the cameraman that had been manning the camera Jasper and Kid Danger were shouting in front of, as she tapped him on the shoulder.  
"The mayor and his wife are arriving, quick, move the camera!" she said, completely ignoring Jasper and Henry. Jasper and Henry exchanged defeated glances.

"Now what?" Jasper asked quietly.

"We gotta find another news cam," Henry answered. The duo scanned the event, looking for another place where they could stage their breakup.

"Oh, over there!" Henry said as he pointed to a news cam on the other side of the crowd. Henry and Jasper made their way over to it and positioned themselves in front of it once again. Henry raised his eyebrows at Jasper, signaling to him to ask if he was ready or not and Jasper nodded in response.

"Oh, yeah!" Jasper exclaimed, "Well you're not even that good of a superhero!" Henry was physically taken aback as he snapped his eyebrows together.

"_Dude!_" he said through gritted teeth. Jasper shrugged a little as the corners of his mouth turned down slightly.

"_Sorry_," he mouthed.

"Well, no one cares about your bucket collection!" Kid Danger shot back. Jasper threw his hands up.

"See how it feels?" Henry whispered. Jasper and Henry both turned to see that the camera was no longer on them.

"Oh, come on!" Henry yelped. "This isn't working," he said as he slumped his shoulders. He looked around as he tried to devise a new plan. As he was thinking it over, the mayor stood in front of the giant ribbon and started his speech in front of the camera. Henry grabbed Jasper's arm and started pulling him to where the mayor was.

"Where are we going?" Jasper asked.

"Just follow my lead," Henry responded. Henry pulled Jasper right in front of the mayor so that Jasper and Kid Danger were right in between the camera and the mayor.

"Uh, fellas? We're kinda doing a ceremony here," the mayor said nervously. Henry put on his best angry face as he held up a hand to the mayor.

"Hang on, we're in the middle of something here," Kid Danger said as he shot daggers at Jasper. "If you really feel that way, than why don't we just break up?!" he roared as loudly as he could.

"Why don't we?!" Jasper bellowed.

"Fine!" Kid Danger yelled. Henry turned so that he was looking directly into the camera. "You heard it here first, folks! Jasper Dunlop and Kid danger are officially DONE!" Jasper and Henry shot daggers at each other one more time before storming off in opposite directions.

After event, Henry, Ray, and Jasper all piled into the elevator to go down into the Man Cave, and when they stepped out they found Charlotte already waiting for them.

"Did it work?!" Ray asked hopefully. Charlotte smiled.

"Yep! The news just did a segment on Jasper and Kid Danger's big blowout at the ceremony this afternoon. You're in the clear," she answered. The boys all let out a collective sigh of relief.

"Thank goodness that's over," Jasper said as he slumped down onto the couch.

"Can you guys _please_ be more careful from now on when Henry's in his Kid Danger costume?" Ray pleaded.

"Oh, don't worry. I'm never going through that again," Jasper responded. Henry took a seat beside Jasper, leaving no space in between them. He put his hand down on Jasper's knee as he turned his head to face him.

"I gotta admit, it was kinda fun having you on my arm as Kid Danger, though," he said, smiling. "But, it's not worth the risk," he added.

And just like that, everything went back to normal. Jasper went back to being just another face in the crowd. Henry and Jasper waited a week before announcing their reconciliation, and Charlotte informed them that they were on track to become cutest couple again. It was almost as if the whole "Kid Danger cheating scandal" never happened. Yep, everything was back to normal. Well, that was until….

"Hey, Henry, is it true that you're dating Kid Danger?"


End file.
